The Pune police have arrested a 62-year-old woman’s son and grandson on charges of murdering her, cutting her body into pieces using a chainsaw, and later dumping the parts in various waterbodies across the city, said officials.
Officials said the victim identified as Usha Vitthal Gaikwad, a resident of Keshavnagar in Mundhwa, was reported missing by her grandson Sahil. In his complaint registered at the Mundhwa police station on August 10, Sahil said his grandmother had been missing since August 5.
However, in the last week of August, the victim’s daughter Shital Manoj Kamble approached the police alleging the involvement of her brother Sandeep, 42, Sahil’s father, and Sahil in the disappearance and possible murder of her mother over a suspected dispute over property.
Based on the preliminary investigation, the police arrested Sahil, who had been living with the victim, on August 28 and Sandeep, who lives in a separate house in the same Keshavnagar area, on August 30, on the charges of abduction and criminal conspiracy towards kidnapping the victim.
During the custodial interrogation of the father and the son and subsequent investigation, it came to light that their family house and gold ornaments were owned by the victim. She had asked her grandson to leave the house multiple times in the past. “The probe has revealed that on August 5, following a fight with his grandmother, Sahil strangled her to death. He later kept her cell phone at a different place to mislead the possible investigation,” said inspector Brahmanand Naikawadi, in-charge of Mundhwa police station.
According to the police probe, Sahil then bought a chainsaw and chopped his grandmother’s body into pieces. His father then helped him transport and dump the body in a jack well and as well as riverbeds in different areas. They also dumped the blood-soaked clothes at a different place.
On August 23, police had found a human leg near Theur and are trying to establish whether it belonged to the victim.
The police custody of the father and son ended Tuesday after which the details of the investigation were shared with the media.
